Improvement in wicker-covered bottles



R. DEMPSEY.

Wicker-Covered Bottles.

No.147,485. 'PatentedFeb.17.1a74.

hmmm' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD DEMISEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, IENXSYLVANIA.

Specilicaton forming part of Letters Patent No. 149,485, dated Fel ruary 17,1874; application tiled January 10, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RICHARD DEMPsEY, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in VickenCovered Bottles and Demijohns, of which the following is a specification:

Convenience and the cxigencies of business very frequently require druggists, liquordealers, and others to loan bottles and demijohns to their customers for temporary use, or to put such vessels temporarily out of their keepin g--as, for instance, when they are dcposited for carriage from one place to another, or for other purposes. From these sources much loss and inconvenience arise.

Wicker covered vessels frequently also require to be permanently marked with labels descriptive ofthe nature of their contents, and this has hitherto been done by a tag, which is easily displaced and lost.

My improvement is designed to obviate the difficulties referred to; and it consists in forming an opening of the required size and shap'e in the wicker-work, and fastening to the body of the covered vessel a label of glass, metal, paper, wood, or other material containing the naine and address of the owner, the name of the contents of the vessel, and ornamental devices, one or all, the edge of the wicker-work around the edge of the labelspace bein preferably caused to project above the surface of the label.

In the course of my experiments I have found that the opening in the wicker-work could not be practically made without the introduction of some material not liable to be shrunk or warped by the moisture in the rattan or willow, which require to be made wet when worked, in order that they may have the requisite pliability. The top and bottom of the opening I have found to be sufliciently sustained by the stakes against this warping action; but the sides I have found to twist,

draw back, or shrink away as they dry, so as to destroy the out-line of the opening, and, of course, render it necessary to have an irregular-shaped label. To avoid this objection, and

l to obtain a regular outline, I 11e-enforce the stakes a-t the sides of the opening by strips of metal or pieces of wire extending across and above and below the opening, as represented in the drawing. The upper and lower ends of these re-enforeing-wires, being held rmly in the wicker-work, resist the warping tendency 2. c and d are two wires, preferably, but not necessarily, of steel, inserted into the wicker covering along or near the sides of the labelspace, for stiffening and holding up the edges of the wicker, which, without some such support, sags when damp.

Instead of eementing the label, when of wood or metal, to the body ot' the covered vessel, it may be fastened in its place by means of wires or points projecting from the edgesof the label, or by making the label with a double edge, which can be caused to clasp the edges of the wicher'covering around the label-space, or by perforating or slotting the edges of the label,

and passing strands of the wicker through the perforations or slots.

l. A bottle or deinijohn provided with a wicker-work covering, the latter constructed with an opening through its side, for the display of a label, and the sides thereof projecting in front of the surface of the label, to protect the same, substantially as set forth and shown.

2. The wicker covering b, provided with an opening in its side, for the display of a label, the sides of the said opening being'stift'ened by metallic pieces c and d, substantially as and for the purpose set forth and shown".`

l RICHARD DEMPSEY.

Witnesses GEORGE M. VrcIrEns, Tnonns A. BURTT. 

